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An alliance of 20 environmental groups, businesses, local officials and individuals came together Wednesday morning to fight offshore drilling.

Held under a the barrage of rain outside of Langosta Lounge on the Asbury Park boardwalk, the event aimed to rally all New Jersey residents to attend the only public meeting being held in the state on President Donald Trump’s newly introduced five-year Outer Continental Shelf and Gas Leasing [OCS] Program.

Organized by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management [BOEM], the meeting will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Hilton Garden Inn, located at 800 Route 130 in Hamilton, to allow participants to ask questions, share information, talk with BOEM team members and learn more about the national OCS program.

The OCS program outlines a five-year timeframe and guidelines for offshore drilling ending in 2022 but a new proposal, that would run through 2024, is being vetted by BOEM, who administers the program.

“The idea that federal agencies would host a poster session like a science fair and hide from public accountability by not providing a public hearing is an insult and is unacceptable,” said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action.

Instead, Zipf said, they will be hosting a Citizen Hearing in an adjacent room at the Hilton Garden Inn to ‘empower people to speak out against the plan,’ which will be recorded, transcribed and sent to Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke.

“It’s also declared Ocean Emotion Day,” Zipf said. “This is a matter for every New Jerseyan who has ever enjoyed the Jersey Shore has to come out and speak on behalf of the ocean.”

The draft plan would allow offshore drilling in 90 percent of US ocean waters, within three miles of beaches along the eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida, according to a joint statement by those in attendance.

“We continue to pass resolutions, we continue to rally and protest, but unfortunately Washington DC and Sec. Zinke do not read the resolutions, do not read our lips, do not listen to how wrong this proposal is,” said Asbury Park Mayor John Moor, who extended a personal invitation for Zinke to visit Asbury Park and the Jersey Shore. “…When is this ill-conceived idea going to be put to rest forever.”

Langosta Lounge owner Marilyn Schlossbach said she has been working alongside Zipf and many of the environmental group in attendance for over 25 years to fight for the protection of the ocean.

“It’s insane that we keep working on the same issues over and over again,” said Schlossbach, who has hosted many environmental protection rallies at her boardwalk venue. “The world is not politics when it come to what we are looking at out here.”

That sentiment was reinforced by message of support sent by Congressman Frank Pallone Jr [D-6] and Chris Smith [R-D4].

“The Jersey Shore has over $700 billion in coastal properties and a tourism industry that generates $38 billion a year and directly supports almost half million jobs or nearly 10 percent of the state’s entire workforce,” Pallone’s statement said. “We can’t risk that.”

Asbury Park Councilwoman Yvonne Clayton said, “Putting an oil drill out there is like killing the goose that laid the golden egg.”

Bradley Beach Councilman and Surfrider Foundation member John Weber said like Asbury Park, his town adopted a resolution against offshore drilling.

“Basically it says, whereas you are trying to drill for oil out there, we are going to fight you and we are going to stop you,” Weber said.

“This is not a day for fair-weather friends,” said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “It might be a cold and rainy day in February but our hearts are on fire to protect the Jersey Shore and to stop this outrageous proposal from the Trump administration. If BOEM is going to hold a public meeting on Valentine’s Day, we  are going to swamp it because this administration cannot get away with saying the public is not against offshore drilling. Up and down our coastline, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are all saying, you should not gamble with our coast because if you drill, you will spill.”

Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel [shown in feature photo] said they have been fighting offshore drilling locally for 45 years.

“What President Trump did was reckless and dangerous; throwing away science and economies of scale for every town along the coast,” Tittel said. “We have won because people have shown up and we have gotten bipartisan support. We are going to send a very clear message – hands off New Jersey’s beaches, hands off our economy.

In total over a dozen environmental and local leaders spoke out and rallied for a strong attendance at the Feb. 14 meeting. They included Jen Coffey of the Association NJ Environmental Commission, Margot Walsh of the Jersey Shore Partnership, Katherine Smith of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, Samantha Kreisler NY/NJ Baykeeper, Doug O’Malley, Jeanmarie Donahue of Waterspirit.

“Frankly, I am pissed that I have to be here again,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “What does it take for the federal government to understand that the public in New Jersey wants a clean, wild, open ocean. We did not spend 25 years cleaning it up from New York City sewer sludge, industrial wastes being dumped off our shores,  proposals for nuclear plants and wood burning, to turn it over to big oil.”

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